Allen Harris: Construction industry positions Alabama for future success
Alabama’s construction industry is built on a foundation of customer service, integrity and work ethic. As CEO of Bailey-Harris Construction and board chairman of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama (ABC), I have experienced firsthand the value a career in commercial construction has on our state’s economy and future leaders. Commercial construction is vital to Alabama’s economic footprint and touches every aspect of our residents’ lives. A study recently conducted by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama found that commercial construction stimulated nearly $13 billion of business in our state and generated 156,000 full-time jobs in 2015 alone. According to the study, the economic impact of commercial construction has also generated a payroll of more than $6 billion a year and made a direct impact of $444 million into the state Education Trust Fund. These numbers showcase the impressive impact the construction industry has in our state. Because of this, we must continue to build on its success and invest in efforts that enhance education initiatives and craft training skills to create a pipeline of opportunities for future industry leaders. Two years ago, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama and Alabama’s K-12 education system joined together to establish the Academy of Craft Training to recruit, educate and employ high school students through construction careers. The Academy gives students the opportunity to build relationships and learn from industry leaders and prospective employers. It has quickly become a model for public-private partnerships with the Associated Builders and Contractors, the State Department of Education and the Department of Commerce hitching wagons to better our workforce product and our state. While just two years old, the Academy has quickly become a model for all-in workforce development. Within its first year of operation, the Academy of Craft Training placed 94 percent of participating seniors in a job after graduation. By equipping students with the necessary skills and real-world experience, the Academy provides opportunities for students to learn craft skills, make a good living and eventually advance into a supervisory level with long-term career benefits. For example, our teachers are industry trained; our classrooms resemble construction jobsites with rules and regulations to which we adhere; Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is worn at all times and other practices that emulate actual job conditions are employed. Upon the course completion, we are finding our student graduates have a positive infection. Infection? Yes, a positive infection that translates to a passion for the industry. It was last a fall Saturdayafternoon at an Auburn University campus jobsite and I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Jacob, a recent graduate of the Academy. “Jacob, what in the world are you doing here?” I asked. He had come to see the site crane operator, Tommy. He and Tommy had developed a working mentor relationship on a Tuscaloosa jobsite. Jacob immediately inquired, “Mr. Harris, where can I get a vest and glasses? I need to help walk the rig out.” Late on Saturdayafternoons, most young men would be hanging out with friends or relaxing. Jacob just wanted to be around the work. Passion is something our instructors talk and cultivate often at The Academy. Yes, work cures most ills. Through stories like this, we see how Alabama’s construction industry touches lives. I encourage the state to continue supporting this important initiative. By teaching students hands-on trade skills and requisite soft skills, paired with values of integrity and work ethic, we can ensure that future leaders will continue to build upon Alabama’s construction industry that supports our communities. ••• Allen Harris is Founder and CEO of Bailey-Harris Construction, a leading industrial and commercial contracting firm based in Auburn, Ala. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama.
Construction industry makes $12B economic impact in Alabama
Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama (ABC Alabama), the largest commercial construction association in the state, released a new study detailing the construction industry’s $12 billion annual impact on state economy. ABC Alabama released the report, prepared by Keivan Deravi, economics professor at Auburn University at Montgomery, on Wednesday. According to the study, the industry has a direct annual impact of nearly $8 billion and, combined with the indirect impact, an annual impact of $12 billion a year. David Pugh, chairman of the Association’s board and partner in the Construction and Government Contracts Practice Group at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP in Birmingham, said the study was well-timed and necessary, but believes the study paints a modest picture of the industry. In conjunction with the release of the study, Gov. Kay Ivey toured the Academy of Craft Training Center in Birmingham, Ala. In 2016, ABC Alabama established the Academy of Craft Training (ACT) as a public/private partnership between the construction industry and the State of Alabama’s K-12 education system to recruit, educate and guide high school students for educational and employment opportunities in the construction industry. “Alabama’s commercial construction industry, with its $12 billion impact on our economy, continues to play a vital role in moving our state forward,” Ivey said according to AL.com. “I am committed to workforce development efforts, which prepare Alabamians for the jobs of today and of tomorrow, and provides employers with the trained workers they need.” Ivey said she wants to expand the ACT throughout the state and duplicate its structure for other industries. Here’s a look at the commercial construction industry’s economic impact on the state:
Alabama business roundup: Headlines from across state – 2/3/17 edition
What company’s creating 100 new jobs in Huntsville? Who’s been named the top municipal advisory firm in the state? What could be bringing more jobs to the the Gulf Coast? Answers to the these questions and more in today’s Alabama business roundup. Alabama NewsCenter: Birmingham experiencing urban renewal In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “In a real sense, all life is interrelated. All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” More than 50 years after King was wrongfully imprisoned for his part in boycotts and “unlawful gatherings,” integration in Birmingham has finally been achieved through urban renewal — integration of races, religions, cultures and environments. Things are not perfect, but progress is being made, and a cultural renaissance is developing in downtown Birmingham. The Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Birmingham Museum of Art partnered in January to host “American Rhapsody: A Festival of American Music and Art.” One well-attended event focused on Jewish-American composers, specifically Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Richard Danielpour. A standing ovation was given after the symphony and ASO chorus performed Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” in Hebrew. Near the Alys Stephens Center, where the Alabama Symphony Orchestra performs, the well-regarded Alabama Ballet is headquartered. The Alabama Ballet draws principal dancers from nations including Russia, China and Japan. It is one of only eight companies in the world licensed by The Balanchine Trust to perform George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker®”. This February, notable company dancers including John Mingle IV will perform “Giselle,” a French romantic ballet. Before they attend the ballet, people often walk through Railroad Park, a marvel of adaptive re-use. The park includes 19 acres of green space and a biofiltration wetlands area. A rail trail runs the length of the park and is used for activities including biking and jogging. Recycled materials including hand-cast brick and cobblestone are incorporated into walls and benches. A Railroad Park dining car remains as a nod to Birmingham’s past as an iron and steel producing center. Native plants are used in landscaping to preserve water. Regional vegetables are celebrated in the farm-to-table cuisine of Alabama native Frank Stitt, the chef and owner of three award-winning restaurants south of downtown. Stitt was named “Best Chef in the Southeast” by the James Beard Foundation and was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance. The visual arts in Birmingham are vibrant as well. Notable artist William McLure has modern paintings displayed in galleries across the South and in magazines including Southern Living, which is based in Birmingham. Though McLure travels to Manhattan and other cities for commissions, the artist is proud to call Birmingham home. Regional magazines often photograph McLure’s paintings alongside antiques, in a nod to traditional Southern interior design. In downtown Birmingham’s renaissance, symbols of the past are often adapted rather than destroyed. Unlike Atlanta, where developers usually tear down historic buildings in favor of glass and steel high-rises or McMansions, Birmingham is a place where soot-covered brick is preserved on both boutiques and nightclubs. The renowned Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) is a transitionally-styled brick structure with antique-inspired iron streetlights in front. BCRI placed a statue of civil rights leader the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth near the museum’s entrance. The Alabama-born Shuttlesworth was once persecuted on the streets of Birmingham by the forces of the public safety commissioner at the time, Eugene “Bull” Connor. Now Shuttlesworth stands firm to welcome all, a symbol of what Birmingham has become. AL.com: Construction group: Trump plan could mean jobs for Mobile The Mobile area might have seen its share of positive economic developments in the last year, but there’s at least one persistent sore spot: a lack of growth in construction jobs. Brian Turmail, national spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, visited the Mobile waterfront on Wednesday to highlight the issue, joined by representatives of the Mobile business community. The choice of location was no accident: The AGCA sees a potential wave of government infrastructure spending as the cure for lingering construction-industry blues, and in Mobile that spending would include funding for the proposed I-10 bridge over the Mobile River. Part of the reason for Turmail’s visit was to announce the AGCA’s interest in seeing the administration’s pro-infrastructure stance translate into action. “The construction firms that are the members of the Associated General Contractors of America, our association, are going to do everything in our power to make sure that President Trump delivers on his promise to make massive new investments in our public infrastructure,” Turmail said. “And that Congress acts on and approves any plan that the president puts forward.” Turmail said Alabama generally, and Mobile specifically, are somewhat out of step with national industry trends. Overall, he said, the industry has been rebounding from the great recession that ended a few years ago – but the recovery has been “at least from a construction point of view, inconsistent, a little erratic, and obviously not as fast as all of us would like it to be.” He said Alabama lost jobs through 2014, added jobs in 2015, but slid back in 2016. The state lost 6,100 construction jobs in 2016 and the Mobile area lost about 1,100, or 10 percent of its total jobs in the field, he said. “Today, construction employment is shrinking faster in this area than in just about any other metro area in the country,” he said. Bill Sisson, president and CEO of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Turmail’s figures represent a pattern already noticed by the Chamber. In the Chamber’s most recent State of the Economy presentation, he said, some sectors showed significant growth, notably shipbuilding and manufacturing. But a rebound for construction jobs had lagged. Rob Middleton, president of Middleton Construction, said that the business is cyclical, and that the completion of the Airbus Final Assembly Line in 2015 accounted for some of the jobs lost in 2016. But he also cited some major
